Ottawa Senators goalie Matt Murray has no ill-will towards his team for leaving him unprotected in the upcoming Seattle Kraken expansion draft and understands why they made the decision. 

Murray, 27, was left exposed while 23-year-old Filip Gustavsson was protected by the Sens for the Wednesday draft. 

“Matt gets it 100% and he’s fine with it,” Robet Hooper of Octagon Hockey told Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun. “Pierre explained to Matt that they don’t want to lose him and based on their educated guess they don’t believe they will. The Senators don’t feel this will be a big risk to the team.”

There is a sense within the Sens that the Kraken won't select Murray in the expansion drat given that he still has three years with a cap hit of $6.25 million left on his contract. 

The two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Pittsburgh Penguins, posted a 10-13-1 record with a 3.38 goals-against average and a 0.893 save percentage over 27 games in 2020-21, his first season in the nation's capital. 

Gustavsson went 5-1-2 last season in his rookie campaign, posting a 2.16 GAA and a 0.933 SV.